Sample Sacramento - Out of Bounds

Sample Sacramento returns with a visit to Out of Bounds.  Check out my experience here.

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Cheers!

Insatiable Thirsty Thursday - Gather

I'm out at this year's  last Gather pouring for Beers In Sac.  Come out and enjoy a brew with me on this Insatiable Thirsty Thursday. 

Insatiable Thirsty Thursday - Coffee Beer

It's Insatiable Thirsty Thursday again, I'm enjoying the High West-ified Imperial Coffee Stout from Lagunitas Brewing Company.  Click here for more info on brewing a coffee beer.

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Cheers!

Sample Sacramento - Auburn Alehouse

Sample Sacramento heads up the hill to visit Auburn Alehouse.

Photo credit: The Wife

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Cheers!

I Got Tap'd

The Wife and I had a great time at Tap Folsom.  Check out the event wrap up at BeersInSac.com.

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Cheers!

Sample Sacramento - Knee Deep

Sample Sacramento hits the hop mother lode.  Check out my visit to Knee Deep.  Coming up next is Auburn Alehouse.

Me and the Hoptologist himself

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Cheers!

Insatiable Thirsty Thursday - Holy MALTrimony

Insatiable Thirsty Thursday returns with the 8th episode, drinking Holy MALTrimony.  This is a special episode for me.

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Cheers!

Partner in conference

The National Homebrewers Conference was a blast.  I kept a note pad with me the entire time.  Check out my event wrap up at BeersInSac.com.

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Cheers!

Insatiable Thirsty Thursday - Panic IPA Track 7 Brewing

Insatiable Thirsty Thursday returns with the 7th episode, drinking Panic IPA from Track 7 Brewing Company.  Check out my post about visiting the Best of Show winner of the 2015 California State Fair Commercial Craft Beer Competition.

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Cheers!

Insatiable Thirsty Thursday - Paradise Rd Pilsner Fig Mtn

Insatiable Thirsty Thursday returns with the 6th episode, drinking Paradise Rd. Pilsner from Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company.  This was a great beer and I am very much looking forward to the 7th episode. Check back in a week or two for the Best of Show winner of the 2014 California State Fair Commercial Craft Brew Competition.

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Cheers!

Sample Sacramento - Cool Beerwerks

Sample Sacramento heads to the hills.  Check out my visit to Cool Beerwerks and check back in the coming weeks for more Gold Country breweries.  

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Cheers!

Insatiable Thirsty Thursday - The Bronx Pale Ale

The wife and I have been having an awesome time in New York.  In this episode, I sampled a local brew from The Bronx Brewing.  The next episode will be back at home.

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Cheers!

Insatiable Thirsty Thursday - DC Brau The Citizen

The wife and I are on the road, currently in DC and will be in NY next week.  In this week's episode I sampled a local brau.  Check back next week for the 5th episode as Insatiable Thirsty Thursday pours into the Big City.

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Cheers!

Sample Sacramento - Jackrabbit

I have teamed up with Beers In Sac again for a series of articles called Sample Sacramento.  I will be visiting all of the Sacramento area breweries and sharing my experience and tasting notes. This week I wrapped up the West Sacramento Port District with Jackrabbit Brewing.

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Insatiable Thirsty Thursday Hefe Weissbier

Insatiable Thirsty Thursday returns with Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier (say that ten time fast). 



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Cheers!

A Craft Brewing Experience

The West Coast Invitational is next week, click here for more information on the event.

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Cheers!

BJCP Guidelines Get An Update

If you've followed this blog long or have read a few posts back you'll know that I'm a Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) judge.  The most used tool for a beer judge, other than a bottle opener, is the BJCP Style Guidelines.  A new edition of the guidelines has been released.  Read more here.

Cheers!

Insatiable Thirsty Thursday - Saison Dupont

Insatiable Thirsty Thursday returns with Saison Dupont.  



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Cheers!

Sample Sacramento - Yolo

I have teamed up with Beers In Sac again for a series of articles called Sample Sacramento.  I will be visiting all of the Sacramento area breweries and sharing my experience and tasting notes. This week I visited Yolo Brewing Company.  Only one more West Sacramento brewery to visit; Jackrabbit is next.

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Insatiable Thirsty Thursday - Pranqster

Insatiable Thirsty Thursday starts now with North Coast Brewing Company's PranQster.



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Cheers!

Sample Sacramento - Bike Dog

I have teamed up with Beers In Sac again for a series of articles called Sample Sacramento.  I will be visiting all of the Sacramento area breweries and sharing my experience and tasting notes. This week I visited Bike Dog Brewing Company, check back soon for my visits to Yolo Brewing and Jackrabbit Brewing.

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Beer Week Geekery

Perfect weather for Capitol Beer Fest 

Sacramento beer culture is booming, we are quickly becoming a beer city and I am excited to watch us grow.  In the 6 short years since the inception of Sacramento Beer Week, we have grown from 8 to 38 area breweries within a 50 mile radius of our city.  Beer Week is a celebration of all things beer in Sacramento and it wouldn't have happened without all of the fine folk in and behind the scenes.  They are deserving of our thanks and a toast.  Here's to Sacramento, cheers!

Sacramento Beer Week is now a far enough behind me that I can see it without the haze of a beer glass.  There were a myriad of events that I wanted to go to, but I can't be at more than one place at a time.  Also, I was battling a cold and had to limit myself.  However, I soldiered through and had the best Beer Week that I could.  Below you'll find some highlights from my Beer Week excursions.

The festivities were kicked off at the CA Auto Museum with the Brewer's Showcase
Mraz Brewing Company Morning Star was my favorite of the night

New Glory's Wild, Wild West 100% Brett IPA has a subtle tartness that is balanced
by a cracker sweetness and tropical fruit.  This is one of the best beers I had all week

San Diego invaded Midtown with the Sacramento Beer Enthusiasts, a Facebook
group that organized a beer crawl that consisted of San Diego brewery tap take overs
Pictured are samples from Green Flash and Alpine 

Hanging with the brew club during the 21st Amendment Capitol City Brewer's Battle
The homebrew competition was held and Capitol Beer and Taproom

Another of my favorite local beers Bike Dog Brewing's Milk Stout
It is now available in bottles as is their San Dog IPA

The coveted Delirium Tremens glass, I got the fourth to last glass from Streets
They went through 10 cases of glasses in a hurry

I had an amazing evening at the Blackbird Beer Pairing dinner.
 Oysters, crab cake and lamb sausage paired with beers from Mraz Brewing,
  Bike Dog Brewing and Device Brewing.  

Barrel tasting at Track 7, Sour Blonde on the left and BBA Belgian Stout on the left

Capitol Beer Fest brought Sacramento's beer lovers together for the last official
event of Beer Week.  I had a great time and sampled oh so many great beers

Sample Sacramento - Device

I have teamed up with Beers In Sac again for a series of articles called Sample Sacramento.  I will be visiting all of the Sacramento area breweries and sharing my experience and tasting notes. This week I visited Device Brewing Company, check back often for more.

Art by Beerded Designs

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Art of Beer Invitational 2015

The wife and I had an incredible evening Friday, January 30th at The Art of Beer Invitational.  The event gathered 40 plus breweries, artists and food vendors in support of Ales for Autism.  Ales for Autism is a beer-centric organization with the goal of raising money for and promoting autism awareness.  Art made by local area artists and brewers was auctioned off with the proceeds going to Ales for Autism.  They hold many beer-centric happenings, with the Black & White Beer Ball coming to San Francisco Beer Week, February 13th; clink the link for tickets.

These oysters were shucking fantastic

Music played as the event kicked off with a VIP hour. Special beers were brought out by the brewers to be paired with food selections from Mikuni, ThePasta Queen, Blackbird Kitchen + Beer Gallery, Passione Pizza, and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.  I did not have a bad beer the entire night and the food was all fantastic. There were a few options that really stood out, in both the food and the beer.  The food choice that really excited me were the oysters from Blackbird Kitchen.  The list of delightful beers that I tasted that evening are far too numerous to account for in this post.  I couldn't taste them all and I'm sure that I missed a few great beers.  Out of the many beers that I did taste, I managed to narrow it down to my top 14.  In no particular order:

I love their Milk Stout,
 with or without espresso

• Monk's Cellar Brewery - West Coast Tripel - Dry Hopped Belgian DIPA
• Monk's Cellar Brewery - St. Arnold Ale - Belgian Style Quadruple
• Sierra Nevada Brewing Company - Barrel Aged Bigfoot - Barleywine
• Firestone Walker Brewing Company - Velvet Mocha Merlin - Coffee Infused Oatmeal Stout
• Drakes Brewing Compnay - Batch 5000 - Belgian Strong Pale
• New Glory Craft Brewery - Wild, Wild West IPA - 100% Brett IPA
• Speakeasy Ales & Lagers - The Cover Up - Belgian White IPA
• Speakeasy Ales & Lagers - Cement Shoes - Dry Hopped American Strong Ale
• Bike Dog Brewing Company Espresso Milk Stout
• High Water Brewing - Sugaree - Maple Bourbon Pecan Pie Ale
• Almanac Beer Company - IPA
• Almanac Beer Company - Imperial Chocolate Stout
• Saint Archer Brewing Company - DIPA
• Calicraft Brewing Company - Buzzerkly - Sparkling Ale 

I eagerly await the day that they open a taproom

BA Bigfoot, awesome got awesomer 

I trust Firestone with my taste buds

This was the first of many servings of New
Glory's Wild, Wild West IPA.  It was hands
down my favorite beer of the night

I loved the Wild, Wild West IPA so much
that I never tried the Fear Itself.  The other
two beers are standards at the brewery

This is my second year attending The Art of Beer and I certainly look forward to next year.  The beers were as great last year as they were this year; the same goes for the food.  The venue changed since last year, but the new venue is better suited for an event of this size. The Art of Beer Invitational is just far enough ahead of Sacramento Beer Week to get me excited and to have enough time for a little bit of liver repair.  Check back with me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram often during SacBeerWeek for a peek into my beerventures.

Cheers!

Collabrewation

It was a damp, foggy winter morning in Oak Park when a portion of the UnderGround BrewSquad (my homebrew club) met for a demonstration brew day at Brew Ferment Distill.  On any ordinary group brew day, one can expect to find a melange of brewers brewing a variety of recipes on differing brew systems; this was no ordinary brew day.  This day we would collaborate.


I have only ever brewed alone, so it was a little strange, but also refreshing to share the duties.  I paired with my brewther Calvin.  Last year both of us placed in a homebrew competition called Go For The Glory.  With that in mind, we decided to use our award winning recipes as a base for our collabrewation Pale Ale.  We have dubbed it "Went For The Glory".  The other pairing was Calvin's usual co-brewer Peter, AKA Hobbs, and Mike, AKA Professor Vorlauf.  They brewed a Dusseldorf Altbier that they have named "Oh Meine Leber", which translates to, "Oh My Liver"

Calvin, The Prof., Hobbs and Me.  I'm stirring water that I allowed to get hotter
than I wanted.  I seem to do that nearly every time I brew.  Maybe I should install
a thermometer in my kettle, or I can just plan on extra stirring; either way.

Cal & I doughing in.  Doughing in is the process of  adding hot water to the
grain in stages.  Some grain, some hot water, then some more grain and then
some more hot water, etc... until all of the grain and the calculated water
volume has been added to the mash tun (that would be the cooler)

Kelfie (kettle selfie).  This was taken after
the collection of the first runnings which went
much faster than the second, but not as fast
as Cool Runnings

Hobbs is very excited about this hop addition.
That mesh is there to keep ash from the pallet
fire, err I mean fire pit out of the kettle

The brew day lasted a bit longer than I had anticipated, but it went well.  We were a little low in the temperature of our mash due to my guesstimations, but that was simple to correct with a small amount of boiling water. We hit the targeted original gravity and have a lovely active fermentation going as I type.  In a few weeks Cal and I will bottle our batch of beer and then after a few weeks of bottle conditioning, we get to say that we "Went For The Glory".



Cheers!

Sample Sacramento - Track 7

I have teamed up with Beers In Sac again for a series of articles called Sample Sacramento.  I will be visiting all of the Sacramento area breweries and sharing my experience and tasting notes. This week I visited Track 7, check back often for more.

Follow me on Instagram, Twitter or like my Facebook page for sneak peeks into upcoming posts.


Cheers!